A disciple is…a person who is learning to worship Jesus as God, walk with God and His family, work for God in ministry, win their battle with sin and witness to others about Christ.
John 17:20 (NLT):
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony. My prayer for them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.”
What kind of unity was Jesus praying His disciples would experience?
When Jesus was praying for his disciples to have unity he was not praying for unanimity.
Unity and unanimity are different.
What is unanimity?
Merrill Tenney defines unanimity in his commentary on John as “absolute concord of opinion within a given group of people.”
Unanimity means that every individual within a given group of people holds the same opinion, that there is agreement across the board.
Merrill Tenney goes on to say, “Jesus did not pray for absolute unanimity of mind.”
I can remember it like it was yesterday.
Sunday morning August 3rd, 2003.
It was the day I was to be voted on by the members of Bible Baptist Church.
The vote would decide whether I would come to be their pastor or whether their search would continue.
And I remember just before the congregation was to vote Jay asked me, “Brad, what kind of percentage are you looking for?”
I said, “I’m hoping for somewhere in the 90’s. I would be happy with 90-some %.”
And the reason I didn’t say 100% is because I know Baptists.
I am one and grew up in an Independent Baptist church.
When was the last time you attended a Baptist business meeting where everybody agreed and held the same opinion?
As the vote went the members voted 99% to make me their Pastor and I am so thankful that they did.
But I really didn’t expect the vote to be 100%.
Unanimity is rare. Wonderful when it happens but rare.
Thankfully Jesus doesn’t expect us to have the same opinion all the time.
When Jesus was praying for unity He was not praying for us to have uniformity.
Unity and uniformity are different.
Uniformity means that every body is the same.
Uniformity would mean that everybody came out of the same cookie cutter and that we are all alike.
This sentiment was expressed well in a poem by Leslie Flynn I recently read which said…
“Believe as I believe, no more no less
That I am right and no one else, confess;
Feel as I feel, think as I think,
Eat as I eat and drink as I drink;
Look as I look, do as I do
Then I’ll have fellowship with you.”
Uniformity says, “If you don’t talk like me, walk like me, dress like me and live like me, then I’m not going to be your friend.”
This is not the attitude Jesus was praying we would have.
What Jesus was praying for is quite different.
JESUS WAS PRAYING THAT HIS DISCIPLES WOULD EXPERIENCE THE SAME UNITY EXPRESSED IN THE TRINITY.
The same oneness that The Father, Son and Holy Spirit share is what Jesus wants us to have with each other.
I like to think of this Unity in terms of DNA.
DNA, as you know, is the thread that runs through us that makes us who we are. It’s the life thread.
Each person’s DNA is unique.
Let me break down DNA for you so you can understand what exactly Jesus was expects of us and is praying we will have.
The unity Jesus was praying for is a UNITY OF DEVOTION.
Let me explain how this looks in relationships.
When I was in college I was the team leader for a ministry that traveled to churches on the weekends, when we were not in classes, and would challenge churches to become more involved in missions.
I remember that I had a member of my team who I thought was not very spiritual.
At the time I didn’t think much of his walk with God.
I really didn’t believe that there was much substance there.
Here’s what I mean. Sometimes when the group would be sitting around in a circle sharing what we had been learning together in our walks with Christ, this particular young man would often not have much to say.
When we would have open times of prayer where everyone in the group was encouraged to pray out loud, he sometimes would not pray.
And because I didn’t hear the right words come out of his mouth, and because he rarely talked openly about what he was thinking spiritually, I misjudged him as being unspiritual.
But something changed because I watched the way he lived his life and there were some things I deeply admired about him.
For one thing, whenever our team entered a church and set up our equipment, he would be one of the hardest workers in there.
And once our microphones were set on the stage he would always make sure that the microphone chords were neat and tidy.
Do you know why he did this? Because he cared about the way our ministry looked. And do you know why he cared about the impression our ministry made? Because he knew it was a reflection on Jesus Christ.
You see, my friend was just as devoted to Jesus Christ as any of the other members.
He just showed his devotion differently.
Me, I spoke my devotion, because that’s how I’m wired.
Him, he worked with his hands and that is how he displayed his devotion to the Lord.
If you had cut both of us, both of us would have bled devotion, but we just showed it in different ways.
He and I were a part of the same spiritual family but each of us had a different ministry.
Just like the Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all the same family, but each has a different ministry.
And so it is with you and I in the church. We each are devoted to Jesus Christ but we each express our devotion in different and meaningful ways.
What Jesus expects to be the same is that we all must have true devotion to Him. But He does not expect nor require that we each express that devotion in the exact same ways.
The Unity Jesus prayed for is a UNITY OF NATURE.
When I think of a unity of nature I think of my three children.
I have two sons and one daughter.
And they couldn’t be more different.
One is outgoing the other reserved. One is calm the other is a storm.
They each have different personalities and ways of expressing themselves.
But what connects all three of them with each other is that they all have the same Father.
What connects the three of them is that they all are related to me. I’m their father and they are my children.
They belong to me and I belong to them.
And the fact that all three of them share me as their father means that all three of them, while being totally different and unique individuals, all three of them have a little bit of me inside of them.
All three of them share some of my characteristics and nature.
Christians, please here me. We share the same father, God.
We all belong to the same Dad. And what that means is that every single one of us has his nature inside us.
God the Father’s nature lives inside of you and you and you and you and every Christian.
Which means that what connects all of us together is that we share the same nature, the very nature of God the Father.
Look at these verses from Ephesians 4:24-25(NASB):
“…put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.”
Because we belong to God we belong to each other.
We share the same Father and therefore share the same nature.
And yet we couldn’t be more different.
Isn’t true that Christians come in all shapes sizes?
Some are funny, some are serious.
Some are outgoing some are shy.
Some are rich some are poor.
Some are tall some are short.
Some are American. Some are non-American.
And yet what connects us all is that we have A SPIRITUAL UNITY OF NATURE.
The unity Jesus was praying about is also a UNITY OF ATTITUDE.
Christians share the same DNA; the same devotion, the same nature and should share the same attitude.
The attitude we have toward one another is an indicator of the unity or disunity between us.
What kind of attitude are we to have toward one another?
Well, since we all come from the same Father, why don’t we look to our dad to show us.
Ephesians 5:1-2 (NASB):
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
One wise man put it this way…
“In essentials; unity. In non-essentials; liberty; and in all things, charity.”
Whatever issues two Christians may disagree on, what should stay consistent is that both of them maintain an attitude of love toward the other person.
Your opinions may be as different as north is from south but your attitude toward one another should be as similar as Jesus’ attitude toward God the Father.
When your mouth says, “I disagree” your heart must still say, “I love you.”
Now you may say, “Pastor, time out. I thought you were going to talk about witnessing today. All you’ve talked about is unity.”
Well, notice why Jesus prayed for this kind of unity.
He said, “…My prayer for them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.”
Jesus says, “The reason I want Christians to maintain unity is because of their testimony.”
UNITY IS A POWERFUL TESTIMONY.
I like the way Warren Weirsbe puts it.
He says:
“The lost world cannot see God, but they can see Christians; and what they see in us is what they will believe about God. If they see love and unity, they will believe that God is love. If they see hatred and division, they will reject the message of the Gospel.” (Weirsbe, Bible Exposition Commentary, pg.371)
A disciple is someone who is learning to witness to others about Christ.
And one of the ways we witness is through our relationships with other Christians.
